I disembarked from the train in Ottawa after a short train ride from Montreal. I gathered my bags and began the wander downtown to the hostel I was to be staying at for the next night, the Hostelling International, which was formally a jail! Quite an interesting experience. After walking the wrong direction, I found the hostel on a very chilly night, probably a mild -10 or so, as i crunched through the now frozen snow. Dropping my bags for my (initial) two nights, I asked the hostel staff for food recommendations and a good walking track around town for the day tomorrow.
On a recommendation of tacos that I absolutely had to try and a great bar, I headed out from the hostel and down Elgin Street towards El Camino. Busy and packed, I managed to find a seat on my own at the bar and tried a fish, chicken and beef taco. They were all amazing, with the beef taco being hands down my favourite beef taco I have ever had.
Afterwards, I wandered down to Union, which used to be an old Speak-easy. I had a ridiculous desert and a good chat with someone at the bar about my travel experiences so far. Full and getting tired, I decided to take a look at Parliament at night time. A beautifully structured building lit up majestically in the night. Getting late, I decided it best to get back to the hostel and to crash out for the night, for an early start looking at museums across the river from downtown. One thing was for sure though, I had already started to like Ottawa a lot, and it definitely has some amazing food!
The following morning I arose early and rugged up, and headed for a loop from the hostel, through Gatineau to the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of Nature. After a full day I wandered back over the bridge downtown to find somewhere for dinner. Later than night I partook in a ghost tour of the hostel and had a late night adventure downtown at the Elgin Street Diner. The following night I decided to move into an actual jail cell for then night, quite an experience - the bed took up the entire cell with just enough room for my bags, I was even able to lock myself up in the cell for the night! I caught up with Tim, my friend Chris' brother from Brisbane and talked Canada an Australia for a good few hours downtown.
The next day I decided to head to Kingston on my way to Toronto to catch up with a friend.